Change For The Better
by kissmesweetly
Summary: Draco's father is dead, and he had become a drug addict, and has lost all hope for the world. It is Hermione's job to stop him from an early death. Will feelings blossom? Or will Hermione fail for the first time ever? R&R please : UPDATE July 5.
1. His Problems

**Okay .. here's a proper summary. Lucius Malfoy DEAD. Draco Drug Addict and General Ass. Hermione Well...The Same Hermione She Has Always Been. Dumbledore assigns Hermione to help the Head Boy conquer his problems, but it turns out she needs saving too. Insert drama HERE.**

**Disclaimer: Must I sing the humiliating I-don't-own-this song again? You know I don't.**

_Italics thoughts._

_If this was a movie, right about now there would be heavy metal rock music playing. Hopefully it would drown out their awful moaning, _Hermione Granger thought to herself as she listened to Draco Malfoy and his flavour of the week heat up the sheets in the Head Boy's bedroom next to her own. _Couldn't they have made the walls between our rooms a little thicker? I believe they stuffed Styrofoam in there._

Judging from the sounds she heard next, they had finished, and Draco was getting out the one Muggle thing that he liked – marijuana. She had no idea who had introduced him to it, since supposedly he only associated with Purebloods, but there was no doubt about it, Draco Malfoy loved the drugs.

Attempting to get back to her studying, after all it was October and there were only eight months until NEWTs, Hermione tried to ignore the stoned giggles and yells coming from the next room. Finally, enough was enough. She should not have to sacrifice her education for so some pea-brained purist could get his kicks off illegal substances.

She stomped down to his door, which was decorated with a Slytherin crest. She rapped loudly on it, but there was no answer. _Oh bloody hell. _She tried the knob, but it was locked, so after a simple _Alohamora,_ Hermione burst into the room. A nearly naked Draco and a very naked Pansy Parkinson were sitting on his king-size bed, nearly hidden in a cloud of smoke. Each was holding a joint, while Draco was rolling up more.

"_Ahem_", Hermione deigned to interrupt their love-cum-drug-fest.

Draco lazily looked up, whlie Pansy fell back onto the bed laughing. "Whaaaaaat now Granger? Can't you see I'm a little busy?" He smirked, eyes going out of focus.

"Well you are disturbing me and–"

Pansy regained her balance, and laughed maliciously. "Just go to your favourite 'hangout' Granger, the _liiibrary_. Go fuck Potter or Weasely. We don't care do we Drakie? Just leave me and Drakie-kins alone."

"Maybe I should see the Headmaster? I'm sure he would love to know that you two are smoking it up." Hermione was willing to say anything to quiet them down. She was looking at the ceiling, because a naked Pansy (who did not care to cover herself up) was enough to make her queasy.

"Ugh Drakie. The Mudblood is getting annoying, I think I'll go, but I'll still see you tomorrow. Riiight?" Pansy wheedled as she gathered various articles of clothing from around Draco's bedroom. He grunted a response and a spell, and she was fully clothed and gone.

Just as she was prepared to leave, Draco turned and said, "Stop right there Granger." Hermione turned, hearing the venom in his tone of voice. "What right did you have barging in on me like that? I am the only one here who wants to have a bit of a good time, and you're holed up in your room studying for the NEWTs that are eight bloody months away!"

She retorted quickly, "Well at least _one_ of the Head students should be setting a good example for the younger students of Hogwarts!"

"Do you think they give a shit what we do. I know you're all la-dee-dah about being Head Girl and that but really? Do you know what it honestly means? You either bought your way into the position, like me, or you fucked enough teachers, maybe that's what you did..." the scathing glare he received informed him otherwise. "Granger...I'm kidding. But some people have used those tactics, unlike you, who have simply shoved the rule book up her ass voluntarily since birth."

"Oh, just because I'm not a drug addict, papa's boy or Death Eater I _have a rule book shoved up my ass?_"

"Well I don't know, I've never been up there," Draco smirked his finest.

Hermione let out a groan and lunged past him, to the bed where the drugs lay. "You want your bloody proof, here you go. _Incendio_," she muttered at a rolled-up joint. The flame caught and Hermione raised the burning parchment to her mouth. The smell was pungent, but she was at her wits' end and was willing to do nearly anything to shut the boy up.

She inhaled deeply and immediately dropped the joint, falling off of the bed and onto the floor in a mad coughing fit. Draco simply stared at her, cackling evilly. Gasping, she asked, "Can you help me out a little?"

He watched as she pulled herself off the floor, and he studied her. Perhaps it was the weed, or seeing her smoke it, or perhaps it was his overactive hormones but _damn Granger looks hot. Her hair is not that... shrub it used to be, she's finally developed a figure and she apparently doesn't know that I can see almost all the way up that miniskirt._

Hermione had finally managed to see straight. She stared at the now-extinguished paper in her hand. _Drugs...who decided that they were so amazing? I feel worse than before I inhaled that nasty thing. _

As if he had read her mind, Draco rolled his eyes and in a condescending voice informed her "Well of course your first drag will be a bitch. Try another."

"Try another? Do you think I am out of my mind? After what just happened you want me to try another?"

"Fine, whatever, if you're not going to be any fun then you may as well leave. I can't believe I even let you in here Granger, you are always such a spoilsport. You should learn to loosen up a little."

"You should learn that you're killing brain cells with that crap there." She turned on her heel and headed for her own room, leaving Draco to recollect his own thoughts.

He was headed down a bad road, and she knew it. Ever since his father had been killed in Azkaban halfway through their sixth year, Draco had been explosive, impulsive and dangerous. He lost weight because he no longer ate enough, he was too busy doing drugs, he never seemed to sleep either, and an emotionless, haunted look played upon his exhausted face. Nobody knew what about his father's death had triggered this behaviour, but everybody knew that if it didn't stop, Draco Malfoy was a dead man.

Even Hermione, who made a point of staying out of Draco's way, noticed the change. These days, he couldn't even be bothered to call her Mudblood. His days consisted of shag, smoke, shower, shag again, smoke again, and if their was time, eat or sleep.

He thought about Granger. How cute she had looked staring at the joint, how hot she had looked when she had it in her mouth – before she hit a coughing fit, how stupid he had been to not stop her from smoking that thing. He had ruined his life, but there was no reason for her to lose everything when she had so much potential. He was hungry, he always was after a smoke, but he rarely acted on it. Since he had nothing to do, Draco walked down to the Head common room to see if there was anything to eat.

The sight he was greeted with upon entering the common room was... well revolting to him. She was lying on the white sofa, body pinned down by one Seamus Finnigan. All he could see of her were a few stray ringlets draped over the armrest and her arms wrapped around his back. The sight jerked the first feeling of emotion he had felt in quite a while – jealousy. Then he realized what was actually going on.

He heard a muffled "Seamus!" and disgust began to rise in his stomach, until the name was followed by "Stop! Please! You're _hurting _me!"

Seamus said nothing, but from the doorway, Draco could hear that he was ripping Hermione's shirt. She began to cry, begging him to stop, but the boy was being driven by hormones and lust, and he was on a collision course with what Draco assumed was Hermione's virginity.

Finally, as he heard her skirt being torn Draco bolted into the room and in one swift movement threw Seamus to the floor. "What d'you think you're doing?" he asked, eyes still clouded with lust, but brows furrowed in surprise and anger.

"Stopping you from committing _rape_. Get out now." His voice was monotone, but the fire in Draco's eyes spurred Seamus' quick departure. Draco turned to Hermione, who had grabbed her wand off the floor and was attempting to perform _Reparo_ spells on her clothes, although she crying too much to pronounce it correctly. He attempted not to look at her chest as he muttered the spell, but it was damn difficult to resist. He sat at the other end of the sofa, waiting to see if she was alright.

After a few awkward minutes, she finally whispered, "Thank you."

He looked over at her. Her big chocolate eyes were bloodshot, and tears were still slipping silently down her cheeks. Her hair was slightly dishevelled, but her clothes were still intact. He didn't speak, so she did. "Why did you do that? I could have handled myself just fine."

He sneered, in a Snape-like manner, "_Riiiiight _Granger, from the sounds of" he turned his voice high and girlish, "Seamus, stop, that would really have worked."

He watched impassively as the tears picked up intensity. They made him feel odd, as though he was doing something wrong by making her cry. _No, she is a Mudblood, it is my right as a Pureblood to demean their kind._ But it just felt wrong.

She watched a shadow of some unnamed emotion pass over his face, but it was so fleeting that she could not name it. For a moment, when he had stopped Seamus, she thought that maybe, _just maybe_, he was changing. _Hmph, too much to ask of the Stony Slytherin Sex God. Sex God...that does indeed describe the blond vision ahead of me. No Hermione. He is an arrogant ass on a permanent ego trip. He is as sexy as...Ron. _"I don't have to put up with this," she sobbed and fled towards her room.

As he lay in his too-big bed that night, Draco found himself thinking about that infernal Head Girl again. _Just because she got tits all of a sudden, she's got every bloody guy all over her. At least us Slytherins have the pride not to screw around with Mudbloods._

A contradicting voice in his head said, _Even hot ones?_

_Even hot ones._

**And there we go, Chapter one of my newest story. I have too many lovely ideas for this one, but I imagine it won't be longer than 10 chapters.**


	2. Her Job

**Just in case you need to know – there will always be language in this story. **

November came and went, as Draco and Hermione continued to live parallel lives, not speaking a single word to each other. Draco continued his daily drug and shag schedule, Hermione cast silencing charms on his room, Draco dated every female thing on legs while Hermione continued to see Seamus and all was well.

All was well that is, until a Friday in December. Hermione was taking a long hot shower, she felt she needed one after the day's activities. Seamus had been rather..out of sorts lately, to say the least. She understood, however, that he was under a lot of stress with classes, and her constant know-it-all attitude wasn't helping him. She did her best for him, but somehow it wasn't enough.

Her thoughts were cut off by her steamy shower becoming a barrage of snowflakes. Cold snowflakes. She let out a shrill shriek and jumped out into the bathroom. She grabbed a towel, and her mind began to churn, as she realized that the happenings were no accident.

She burst into his room, jaw set in fury. "How _dare_ you?"

The shockingly alone and sober Draco simply replied, "Why _Hermione_ I haven't a bloody clue what you are talking about."

"Yes you do! You ruined my shower and nearly froze me!" Her statement was emphasised by a violent shiver.

"Oh, that. Yes that would be me. I was bored. Funny wasn't it?" He smirked, letting his long blond locks fall over his eyes. _Too bad she hadn't come out completely naked, would've been a bonus there._

Letting out a frustrated growl, Hermione stormed back to her room to change into some acceptable clothing. She proceeded to read _Jane Eyre, _a favourite Muggle novel of hers, until she was startled by a "Hello Miss Granger."The Headmaster was standing in her doorway, with an oddly furtive expression on his face.

"Hello Headmaster," she replied, puzzled. What reason did Dumbledore have for visiting her room? "Please, have a seat," she gestured to the wooden chair across from her desk, as she was lying on her bed.

The old man shuffled over to chair, and sat heavily. "Miss Granger, some rather...startling issues have come to my attention, concerning your Head counterpart. It seems that Mr Malfoy has been abusing substances of an illegal nature...?"

Hermione did not want to admit that she had not reported his habits as she knew she should havebut she nodded, "I believe so Headmaster."

"I do not wish to expel the poor boy, who has been through enough, so I need to ask a favour of you Miss Granger." When she nodded for him to continue, Dumbledore leaned forward seriously. "We need to intervene, before his choices result in a tragic ending. We, the professors and I, are going to, with your permission, recommend you as a tutor in what we imagine would be Transfiguration. We would appreciate if somehow, in any legal means, you managed to sway him from his tendencies. Of course you will want to consider this request, so if you could get back to me by the end of the day..." He stood to leave, and as he reached the door...

"I'll do it," Hermione murmured, staring at the ceiling. _This may be the only way to save him, and as horrible as he can be, nobody deserves what he has gone through._

Dumbledore shot her an appreciative smile. "We'll let you know more tomorrow. Thank you Miss Granger."

As the old man left, Hermione flopped onto her gold pillows. _What did I just agree to? He will never let me help him. He will never let **anyone**__help him...let alone the Gryffindor Mudblood._

A knock on the door caused a dozing Draco to be hauled violently out of his less-than-appropriate dream _vis à vis_ one Gryffindor Mudblood. He saw that Dumbledore – _old fool –_ was standing in his doorway. "Sorry to wake you Mr Malfoy, but I have a topic of relatively urgent importance to discuss with you."

Yawning, Draco motioned for him to continue. "You are failing Transfiguration."

His blond hair swished as he sat straight up. "_What_?" His eyes widened in shock. _I could be doing better in that class but...failing?_

"I'm sorry Mr Malfoy, but Professor McGonagall has reported your work is sub-par. Because I, and surely the other professors, would hate to see you be denied acceptance to higher education because of one mark, we believe a tutor would be the best option for you."

_Since when does the old bat care about his students' personal lives so much? Excluding Potter._

At Draco's eye roll, Dumbledore continued. "We have already selected a student to help you three times a week. We all have great confidence in her abilities."

_Her? Maybe this won't be so bad._

"After the end of Christmas Break, you and Miss Granger will be meeting each Monday, Wednesday and Friday for your extra tutoring."

_Yesssss. WAIT. Noooooooo. _"Granger! As in _Hermione_ Granger?" The disgust was evident as his eyebrows rose, and his skin turned deathly pale.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "Yes Mr Malfoy. Good day."

_Graaaaaaaanger. Why her? Bloody hell can they not pick just one other student – any one? Oh that's right...the entire fucking staff hates me._

As he sat on his green duvet-ed bed, scowling, a second knock out on his door startled Draco out of his gloomy thoughts. _Speak of the devil, the pride of Hogwarts herself. _"What do you want?"

Hermione pushed her honey-coloured curls from her face and glared at him. "Since you so kindly asked, I was curious as to whether Dumbledore had stopped by to see you."

"Yes, oh lovely tutor of mine. He did indeed inform me of the fact that until I reach a passing grade in Transfiguration, I am stuck with _you_ three times a week." His voice literally dripped with sardonicism.

"Well I'm not jumping for joy either, Malfoy. I was hoping we could be on slightly civil terms before we start, since we'll be spending so much time together." The sadness was evident in her eyes, he noted. "But I suppose that's too much to ask of his Lordship."

Draco smirked. "Civil? With a Mudblood? Merlin Granger, perhaps you _are_ on drugs."

She snapped. Literally. As soon as the insult left his mouth, all Hermione felt was raw, red anger. She leapt to the bed where he was lying, and before Draco could register the movement, her mouth was covering his, kissing fervently. Before he kissed her back, one thought ran through his mind: _Yes, old boy, you've still got it._

Their kisses quickly progressed from open-mouthed, to tongues, to Hermione kissing her way down his neck, nipping and leaving marks in her wake. She was grinding her hips against him, and he made and 'Mmmmm' sound. _Who woulda thunk? Granger – a pro kisser. _Finally, he pulled her up to his mouth again and he let their tongues battle. He reached for the button on her jeans, and whispered in her ear, "I knew you wanted me."

She pushed him off of her, grinning. "Sorry Malfoy, but you're wrong. You still repulse me." Hermione left with a grand exit, sashaying from the room confidently. _Wonderful job Hermione. That went amazingly well for the one irrational thing you have ever done. Even if I am just a little hot and bothered...I know exactly what I left him with. _She let out a malicious little giggle as she entered her own room.

"Merlin, Hades and all those mythological figures!" Draco exclaimed as he punched his silver throw pillow. _That girl should have been put in Slytherin! What an underhanded tactic! _Sighing, he resigned himself to take a cold shower...no need to waste arm muscles on _her_.

Later that night, Hermione lay in bed, re-thinking the events of her day as she always did. _Well at least I've established that he is one hell of a kisser. It really is too bad that I had to stop. But I believe that these 'tutoring' sessions will now be highly entertaining._

**So...I didn't get as many reviews as I had hoped for. I know this chapter is a bit of a drag but I have 2 major plans...one for the next chapter and one for thenext nextchapter.**


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